The silent minority

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President Obama last week launched an ambitious program aimed at assisting young black and Latino men. The My Brothers Keeper initiative will bring together foundations and companies to help bolster black and Hispanic men, with an estimated $200 million pledged over five years to determine what efforts are working to keep these young men on track. The White House cited statistics noting black and Hispanic men are six times more likely to be the victim of murder than their white peers and that more than 80 percent of black and Hispanic boys are reading below the proficiency level by the time they hit fourth grade. Left entirely out of the President's conversation are young Asian men who struggle with poverty and peer pressure.

Asian poverty is real. The recent influx of immigrants from Asia face many challenges assimilating into their new culture. Many cannot obtain living wage jobs to make ends meet because they cannot speak the language.

While as a race Asians fared as well as whites when it comes to household income with about a 10 percent poverty rate, according to a Census study conducted between 2007 and 2011, certain Asian groups are lagging behind. The study showed that the Vietnamese and Koreans are recording poverty rates of around 15 percent while the Filipinos' poverty rates hover around 5 percent.

Despite the income disparities, Asians are often lumped into one large group and labeled as "The Model Minority." That may have been true for the nation's Asian immigrants some 40 years ago, but our immigration practices have changed.

The myth of the model minority emerged in the early 1970s, with the first significant wave of Asian immigrants arriving to the United States after almost five decades of immigration laws that favored white Europeans. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that was signed into law in 1968 brought about sweeping immigration reforms for the country. Immigrants were granted entry on a merit basis instead of race, with preference given to those with education and financial means as well as people with family in the U.S. The cherry-picked group of Asian immigrants from that era were mostly middle class and did well in this country, giving rise to the model minority stereotype.

Subsequent waves of Asian immigrants have not been as fortunate. The Refugee Act of 1980 was an amendment to the original 1965 Act, providing entrance to the United States for refugees fleeing persecution. Refugees from countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam settled in the U.S., often with little education and language skills. Following the massacre of students at Tiananmen Square in 1989, former president George H.W. Bush gave enhanced consideration to Chinese nationals seeking to flee persecution. The 1990s brought a new wave of working class immigrants from China, with many from the seafaring Fujian Province who paid smugglers known as "snakeheads" with indentured servitude for their journey abroad.

Henrietta resident Kevin Sun's entry to the U.S. was due to his father Dao Liang making a dangerous and illegal journey across several continents with the help of snakeheads. Dao Liang Sun was able to secure political asylum and applied for his family to emigrate from Fuzhou. Kevin was 12 when he arrived in the U.S., not knowing how to speak English. His parents toiled day and night working at Chinese restaurants to support the family.

A natural athlete, Kevin immersed himself in sports and was on the Brighton High School lacrosse team. He realizes he is lucky and the exception to the restaurant immigrant rule. Kids who grow up in restaurant households typically don't have a lot of hobbies because their parents work all the time, he says. By the time they are in their teens, they turn to gambling, which then leads to a lifetime of poverty if the addiction is not corrected. Gambling is a serious underreported problem in Asian communities as members of the model minority are often quiet about their own failings. Now 32, Kevin Sun is co-owner of Shogun Palace in Irondequoit and he talks about giving back to the youth in his community by starting up a youth center where they can engage in constructive activities such as karaoke.

Life for young people who grow up in Asian restaurant families can be lonely. Without enough income for day care or family members to help, they often end up at the restaurants while their parents work or left home alone.

Some years back, I noticed a young boy named Lawrence playing by himself at his family's Taiwanese restaurant near Kodak Park. He was around 5, the same age as my daughter. We made weekly visits to the restaurant after my daughter's Chinese classes and decided to take Lawrence on our outings to play grounds and museums. He had never been to Strong Children's Museum and his eyes just lit up when he saw the aquarium filled with fish that resembled Nemo.

His family moved to New York City after about two years in Rochester. I sometimes wonder what happened to the little boy as he would be 12 now. Lawrence may be in a better situation than other underserved youths as he is in a two-parent household with parents who care about him. But his parents face the constant pressure of financial insecurity, having to work long hours to make ends meet. For many Asian immigrants, earning enough to pay the rent and put food on the table is a never-ending struggle. But it is a silent struggle as the model minority rarely grimace about personal hardships.